Recovery Burgers with Top Gear Bike Shop

Race season is well underway and recovery nutrition should be on the front of every athlete’s mind. Within the next 2 weeks I will be headed to Colorado, and then to Maryland teaching young athletes about sports and recovery nutrition. However, for some reason when I say “nutrition” some people glaze over and with thoughts of steamed broccoli, brown rice, and boiled chicken. When dealing with athletes I often stress that few things aid in recovery more than a full night (maybe an hour more if you want) of sleep and proper nutrition. Proper nutrition is not boring nutrition. To train for hours and then sit in front of steamed broccoli, brown rice, and boiled chicken while friends are cooking out would drive most anyone mad. These young athletes will learn how to make fun, tasty, easy, and cheap meals to fit their athletic needs. One such meal being employed will be Black Bean Burgers topped with Mango Blueberry BBQ sauce and served on a (insert gasp) refined flour sesame seed bun. The riders at Top Gear Bike Shop seemed to like them so much so that I had to hide one for myself. Here is the recipe and why this atypical recovery meal works for athletes.

Black Bean Burger with Mango Blueberry BBQ sauce

Ingredients

2/3 cup bread crumbs

*get the cheap ones with the most amount of carbs and least amount of fat and protein

2 eggs

1 cup minced vegetable of your choice

1 tsp each smoked paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin

salt to taste

3 cup black beans, cooked, half pureed

* optional: bake the half not pureed, this gives the burger more of a meat like texture

Burger buns, yes get the refined flour buns, trust me

1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice

1 mango, cut and pealed

1/2 cup blueberries

Instructions

Simmer the BBQ sauce and fruit till the fruit is soft. Chill it and blend smooth in a food processor or blender. Reserve.

Form burger mix into 4-5 burgers, cook til desired temp, top with enough BBQ sauce to make a mess. Enjoy.

So why burgers? When people think about being healthy often times they picture a world without them. This simply does not have to be. Especially for athletes and recovery meals. As a mentioned in a previous blog post “Think of recovery as having 4 components; refueling, rehydrating, repairing, and revitalizing.” These burgers (plus an appropriate drink) are designed to do that AND taste good. They have less protein and fat, more simple cabs, controlled fiber, contain electrolytes, taste great, and leave room for a low fat, protein, and fiber pasta salad or other summer creation. Go ahead, enjoy cookouts. Eat well. Be well. Live well.